The present invention relates to an electrically operated selector valve and a refrigerating cycle unit for a refrigerator-freezer.
A need that a domestic refrigerator-freezer used through the year shall be operated and controlled diversely accurately and simultaneously high-performability and energy saving of the domestic refrigerator-freezer shall be compatible is increasing recently.
As a refrigerating cycle unit for such a refrigerator-freezer is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-132577, wherein a condenser is connected to a discharge side of a compressor, an inlet port of a three-way valve is connected to the down stream of the condenser, a freezer-applied capillary tube is connected to one outlet port of the three-way valve, a refrigerator-applied capillary tube is connected to the other outlet port of the three-way valve, and a freezer-applied evaporator, a refrigerator-applied evaporator, and the suction side of the compressor are connected to the down stream of the freezer-applied capillary tube and the refrigerator-applied capillary tube.
In the above refrigerating cycle unit, the downstream of the condenser is selectively connected to either one of the freezer-applied capillary tube and the refrigerator-applied capillary tube with a changeover operation of the three-way valve, so that a freezer preferential operating mode and a refrigerator preferential operating mode can be are selected and the cycle efficiency can be enhanced.
However, in the above refrigerating cycle unit, the three-way valve has only two changeover positions; that is, a changeover position of connecting the inlet port to only the one outlet port and another changeover position of connecting the inlet port to only the other outlet port. Therefore, only the two operating modes, i.e. the freezer preferential operating mode wherein the downstream of the condenser is connected to the freezer-applied capillary tube and the refrigerator preferential operating mode wherein the downstream of the condenser is connected to the refrigerator-applied capillary tube of the condenser, can be set. That is, high-performability and energy saving of the refrigerator-freezer are not sufficiently highly compatible.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrically operated selector valve establishing various changeover for use in a refrigerating cycle unit for a refrigerator-freezer and a refrigerating cycle unit, for the refrigerator-freezer, to make high-performability and energy saving of the refrigerator-freezer highly compatible.
In order to achieve the above object, the inventive electrically operated selector valve set forth in claim 1 comprises a valve housing having a valve chamber, a single inlet port normally communicating with the valve chamber, and outlet ports opening on a flat bottom face of the valve chamber while being apart from each other, a valve body rotatably provided in the valve chamber, having a port open-close shaped portion, on an end face facing the bottom face of the valve chamber, to connect, or cut off, the valve chamber from the outlet port, and changing the connection, or the cutoff, between the valve chamber and the outlet port by a turning movement of the port open-close shaped portion with respect to the outlet port, and an electric actuator to steppingly turn the valve body.
And, the inventive electrically operated selector valve set forth in claim 12 comprises a base plate having an inlet port and outlet ports bored therethrough and acting as a valve seat plate, a cap-like rotor casing connected airtight to one side of the base plate and making an airtight rotor/valve chamber along with the base plate, a valve body rotatably provided in the rotor/valve chamber, having a port open-close shaped portion, on an end face facing the base plate, to connect, or cut off, the inlet port from the outlet port, and changing the connection, or the cutoff, between the inlet port and the outlet port by a turning movement of the port open-close shaped portion with respect to the outlet port, a rotor rotatably provided in the rotor/valve chamber and having a multipole magnet of a stepping motor attached to the valve body, and a cylindrical stator coil assembly member, of the stepping motor, fixed to an outside of the rotor casing.
And, in order to achieve the above object, the inventive refrigerating cycle unit for a refrigerator-freezer set forth in claim 19, wherein a refrigerant, through a condenser, from a discharge of a compressor is supplied selectively to a freezer-applied capillary tube and a freezer-applied evaporator or to a refrigerator-applied capillary tube and a refrigerator-applied evaporator and flows to a suction of the compressor, is characterized in that the electrically operated selector valve set forth in claim 18 is provided between downstream of the condenser and upstream of either the freezer-applied capillary tube or the refrigerator-applied capillary tube, the inlet port is connected with the downstream of the condenser, the first outlet port is connected with the upstream of the freezer-applied capillary tube, and the second outlet port is connected with the upstream of the refrigerator-applied capillary tube.